Today GM announced that it is investing $220 million to retool and equip its production facilitiy in Lordstown, Ohio—which currently builds the Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan—to churn out the next-generation Cruze. What GM didn’t reveal, however, is when we can specifically expect the new Cruze to make an appearance, though it did drop a few clues.

-According to GM’s manufacturing manager, the next-gen Cruze will, predictably, get a new look inside and out as well as improved fuel economy. The Cruze has only been on sale in the U.S. since 2010, but the compact sedan first appeared in other parts of the world about a year before that. (Those based outside the U.S. also get the Cruze in five-door hatchback and wagon forms.) GM may not have offered a detailed timeline of when the new Cruze would go on sale, but at least it gave away that crews in Lordstown have begun working to bring the plant’s body shop up to snuff. That tidbit, combined with the auto industry’s typical five-year product cycle, means that the redesigned Cruze could debut as soon as next year before going on sale in 2014 as a 2015.-]]>http://blog.caranddriver.com/gm-upgrading-ohio-production-facility-for-2015-chevy-cruze/feed/0